Based on the above results, we hypothesized that miRNA-372&amp 3 may participate in tumorigenesis of some tumors that retain wt p53 and are sensitive to DNA-damaging treatments. One such tumor type is the testicular germ cell tumor of adolescents and adults (TGCT), known for the presence of wt p53 in the majority of cases and known to be generally sensitive to chemotherapies as well as irradiation (Kersemaekers et al., 2002 Masters and Koberle, 2003 Mayer et al., 2003). In addition, these...

TAM derive from circulating monocytes and are recruited at the tumor site by a tumor-derived chemotactic factor (TDCF) for monocytes, originally described by this group (Bottazzi et al. 1983) and later identified as the chemokine CCL2 MCP-1 (Yoshimura et al. 1989 Matsushima et al. 1999) (Figure 1). Evidence supporting a pivotal role of chemokines in the recruitment of monocytes in neoplastic tissues includes correlation between Figure 1. Tumor-derived chemotactic factors (CC-chemokines, e.g.,...

The cytokine network expressed at the tumor site plays a central role in the orientation and differentiation of recruited mononuclear phagocytes, thus contributing to direct the local immune system away from antitumor functions (Mantovani et al. 2002). This idea is supported by both preclinical and clinical observations (Bingle et al. 2000 Goerdt and Orfanos 1999) that clearly demonstrate an association between macrophage number density and prognosis in a variety of murine and human...

*Experimental Oncology 1, CRO National Cancer Institute, 33081 Aviano, Italy Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 11724 Cold Spring Harbor NY, USA Fra-1 and Fra-2 (Fos-related antigen 1 and 2) are nuclear proteins of the Fos family of transcription factors that, together with jun proteins, participate in the formation of the AP-1 complex. Although overexpression of Fra-1 and Fra-2 has been reported in a number of human tumor types, their role in cancer development has only been marginally clarified....

Istituto Clinico Humanitas - Irccs, Via Manzoni 56, 20089 Rozzano (Mi), Italy Lung cancer, the leading cause of tumor-related death, is a key example of a cancer for which mortality could be greatly reduced through the development of sensitive molecular assay to be used in screening of high-risk subjects, like heavy smokers. the prevalence of specific molecular markers could approximate life time risk for developing lung cancer. In our study, we analyzed the frequency of point mutations of...